1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a luminous ball, in particular, to a luminous ball adapted to be employed in the baseball/softball game.
2. Description of Related Art
Ball games can always attract the sports enthusiasts' interest. Baseball, for example, has a long history and is well-known to the public, and the professional baseball leagues of the US and Asia both have a lot of loyal fans all over the world. It thus goes without saying that baseball is one of the most popular sports, because baseball is easy to play. Pitching and catching the baseball can meet the user's satisfaction for entertainment or for the purpose of exercise.
Baseball games are usually held in the professional baseball stadiums. However, when the people want to play it for fun, they are unlikely to be able afford an expensive indoor or outdoor facility. Generally, people have time to do exercise after work, which is usually at night. But compared with the other sports such as basketball, badminton, soccer, and so on, playing a baseball game without having the lighting apparatus or sufficient light source is dangerous because of the hardness of the baseball. As a rule the regular baseball has a greater hardness than the other balls, so the baseball players have to wear protectors when having a baseball game. If people want to pitch and catch the baseball at night or after darker hours of the evening, it is possible to cause damage to the user's body because of the fastball and the hardness of the baseball. Thus the lighting apparatus or a sufficient light source is indispensable to play baseball. As far as the amateur baseball players are concerned, it is not economical to afford a professional baseball field. However, it is a risk to have a baseball game under the reduced lighting conditions or without the lighting apparatus or sufficient light source.
Currently, there are several luminous balls provided for the night-time use, and those balls are usually coated with the fluorescent materials on the surface of the ball or disposed with the fluorescent components in the ball to enable the user to recognize and identify the movement of the luminous ball at night. However, the fluorescent materials are easy to peel off during the ball game and the luminous ability decreases with time, and the service life of the fluorescent components is short. In addition, the user cannot promptly recognize and identify the luminous ball coated with the fluorescent materials or disposed with the fluorescent components because the fluorescent materials can only radiate weak light. Relative to the speed of the baseball, the human's reaction time is incapable of responding to a fastball quickly. As to the fluorescent materials, whenever the user uses the luminous ball coated with the fluorescent materials, the residue of fluorescent materials is harmful to the health.
When having a baseball/softball game, the players need to have professional skills to play and enjoy it because the regular baseball/softball has its own appearance, weight and hardness which differ from the other ball games. If the specification of baseball/softball fails to meet the standards, the players, including the pitcher, catcher and fielders may all be affected by the defective ball.
In order to achieve the best effect on playing, each baseball/softball has to be made in compliance with the standard specification, so that the formal ball game is not affected by the defective ball. However, the conventional luminous ball is disposed with light-emitting components, causing the differences in the structure, material, weight and hardness of the ball. As to the luminous ball coated with the fluorescent materials on the surface thereof or disposed with the fluorescent components in the ball, the specification of the ball changes and therefore differs from the regular baseball/softball, and the changes and differences may negatively affect the players. Thus a baseball/softball that does not have the standard specification cannot be employed in a formal ball game.
In view of the aforementioned shortcomings, the present disclosure provides a luminous ball to resolve it.